The decision to release the Waterkloof two and commute their sentences to correctional supervision was irrational and inappropriate, the Beeld reported on Saturday.
Correctional services commissioner Tom Moyane said in court documents that the decision made by regional magistrate, Peet Johnson, to release the two should be reviewed and set aside.
Gert van Schalkwyk and Reinach Tiedt were released from Zonderwater Prison on December 16, 2011, three years into their 12-year sentence for the death of a homeless man in 2001. Their sentences were commuted to correctional supervision.
Moyane alleges that Johnson did not keep to the terms of the Criminal Procedure Act.
He said that according to law Van Schalkwyk and Tiedt should only have been released when their sentences had expired, or if they were eligible for parole or sentence commuting when there was only five years of their sentence left.
Van Schalkwyk and Tiedt's sentences were scheduled to expire on February 10, 2020.
Moyane said Johnson handled the commutation without proper consideration, given the nature of the men's crime.
The same sentences meted out to their co-accused, Christoff Becker and Frikkie du Preez, were not commuted.
The parole board of Zonderwater prison had been suspended with immediate effect relating to the ongoing internal investigations over the commutation of the sentences.
Johnson said he will respond in detail to allegations made by the department of correctional services when he returned from leave. - Sapa